E-magazine feature on SRGC Website

[Maggi Young]

IRG 161 June 2023

Polygonatum is a widespread temperate genus with approximately seventy-five species centred in the Eastern Himalaya and Indo-Burma biodiversity hotspots. Aaron J. Floden PhD, is one of the experts in this genus and gives us an oversight of those species in his collection, as first published some time ago in the SRGC Forum.  There are further posts from others in the Forum thread, with comments and identifications made by Aaron – these can be seen by clicking here:  https://www.srgc.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=2033.0

Aaron J. Floden, now based in Missouri at the northeast edge of the Ozark Plateau where he is the Flora of Missouri Curator at Missouri Botanical Garden, has many scientific papers to his name, including many on the likes of Trillium in the United States. He has proven a reliable resource for queries to the SRGC Forum over many years and is generous to share his time and knowledge.


Cover image: Polygonatum biflorum -  kindly provided by courtesy of the Missouri Botanic Garden

Click here to download the IRG 161
https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2023Jun291688063975IRG_June_2023.pdf 

 or on www.srgc.net, click https://www.srgc.net/documents/irg/230630101934IRG161.pdf

[Maggi Young]

IRG 162 July 2023

In IRG free e-mag. 162 : 4 new crocus species this month from Jānis Rukšāns & Dimitri Zubov + Soil Blocks for seed sowing  from Robert Barnard in California. 

Click to read https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2023Jul271690480891IRG_July2023.pdf


Cover Photo : Crocus bydzowskyanus R2CV-047   

[Maggi Young]

Bobby J. Ward has let us know this sad news -  Will Hembree, who wrote about hiking the Appalachian Trail with his dad which was  published in the March 2020 issue of the IRG ( http://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2020Mar261585255661IRG123.pdf) died in a traffic accident in late July 2023, age 30.  He was working in the Great  Basin in Nevada. A rising star lost too soon,  like Nick Courtens. 
We send condolences to his family and friends.  A terrible loss of such a fine young man.

Read a fine obituary, here: https://www.jhoytthomas.com/obituary/william-hembree?fbclid=IwAR2-fA3jc5gxP5fu3gj7FnJ3yZoEy4RzFI6ZFZ9CvLK6C_NtKRp-b1fpuTo



Bobby wrote : Will Hembree and his dad hiked the Appalachian Trail in 2019. In February 2020, Will gave a talk about the hike to a joint meeting of the Piedmont Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society and the Friends of the JC Raulston Arboretum. With Will's permission, the lecture was recorded and archived on the JCRA YouTube site here .   


Will at  his talk at the JC Raulston Arboretum


Will's audience

 From Carson Trexler:

"This one hurts. Will Hembree, died last week in an accident that has left everyone stunned and at a loss for words. He was 30.
Will was the senior conservation horticulturist of Atlanta Botanical Gardens, responsible for the safeguarding collections of the most critically endangered Sarracenia for one of the largest and most accomplished conservation programs in the US. He was a capable master of his craft, educated at Longwood, and a worthy custodian of these special ex-situ projects. 
When I visited ABG last year he was a bright and respectful host, absolutely full of life. I looked forward to meeting him again at ABG. His charisma, humility, and competence were praised in life by all who knew him. In death he is deeply mourned. His is a loss to conservation and to carnivorous plants.
Rest in peace!"


Will Hembree, December 2021

[Maggi Young]

IRG 163  August 2023

This issue  begins with an article from Gerrit Eijkelenboom on his favourite genus - orchids - this time from the  island of Samos. The photos shown with this are from Gerrit’s trip in Spring 2023. Also in this issue are descriptions of new galanthus hybrids developed by   Anne Wright in Yorkshire. Anne is an expert propagator by means of bulb “chipping” and has generously shared her method for this in IRG 118 of October 2019.


 Cover image IRG 163 : Orchis morio hypochrome by Gerrit Eijkelenboom.

Download here:
https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2023Aug251692953084IRG_163.pdf
 or here: https://www.srgc.net/documents/irg/230825101212IRG163.pdf

[Maggi Young]

IRG 164 September 2023 features Wim Boens on Crocus tommasinianus cultivars and Robert Rolfe on the late plantsman and Crocus expert, Ray Cobb.

Find issue to download here:   https://www.srgc.net/documents/irg/230928092539IRG164.pdf

also here: https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2023Sep281695925042IRG164.pdf


Cover image: Crocus tommasinianus (claret form), from a photograph taken in Ray Cobb’s garden in March 1984 by Robert Rolfe.

[Maggi Young]

It is our pleasure to pay tribute to the famous Latvian botanist, Jānis Rukšāns following his seventy-seventh birthday and the milestone of around sixty-five years involvement with collecting, breeding and growing bulbs. Jānis has a farm 80 kilometres northeast of Riga, where he has amassed what is probably the world’s largest collection of ornamental bulbous plants.

 Download IRG165 here: https://www.srgc.net/documents/irg/231026100909231026093811IRG165.pdf

Download is also possible here: https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2023Oct261698336909IRG_165.pdf
(Please note that from 2024, IRG will only be published on SRGCC.net ) 

 
Cover image: Tulipa humilis at the Karabel pass,Turkey - image by Jānis Rukšāns.

[Maggi Young]

IRG 166 - November 2023
First article this month is about the intriguing tulip from Kazakhstan – famed for its deeply furrowed foliage – Tulipa regelii. Frazer Henderson travelled in search of this unique tulip and was successful in seeing it in habitat. 

Already recognised for his general horticultural nous, following visits to his garden in Eskilby and his trips to Scotland where his methods and talks drew great praise, Peter Korn, along with Julia Andersson, has made a fantastic garden of experiment and innovation at their Klinta Garden, further south in Sweden. Here he writes about "Growing in Sand"



Cover image: Perennial planting by Peter Korn.

Click here for free download of  IRG 166   https://www.srgc.net/documents/irg/231123131701IRG166.pdf

[Maggi Young]

IRG 167 - December 2023
IRG 167 is online now. In this issue Robert Rolfe highlights the charming Viola dubyana and Başak Güner Gardner and her husband Christopher Gardner write about some “Variable violas"
download it here: https://www.srgc.net/documents/irg/231221151558IRG167.pdf

Cover image: Linum perenne subsp. alpinum, photo Robert Rolfe


For the last time, the IRG is also posted on SRGC.org.uk - https://www.srgc.org.uk/logs/logdir/2023Dec211703172082IRG167.pdf - from next year, the IRG will only be posted on SRGC.net.

[Maggi Young]

IRG 168 - January 2024

A delight this month to begin the new year by having both new species and new cultivars introduced in the International Rock Gardener. Three new tulips from central Asia are described by Jac J. de Groot and B.J.M. Zonneveld. Jac J. de Groot has a new book “Tulips and their Natural History” to be published in March 2024.

N.B.  Please note that line four of page 6 should read :1 picogram = 10^-12 g).
 

Saxifrages, in all their guises, are popular for their compact nature with fine foliage and flowers. Adrian Young, Saxifraga Registrar, and dedicated curator of the marvellous national collection of saxifrages at Waterperry Gardens in Oxfordshire, sends notes regarding some new Saxifraga stolonifera cultivars. As well as other events at Waterperry, there is an annual Saxifrage Day, which in 2024 will be Saturday 25th May.



Download IRG here- free:  https://www.srgc.net/documents/irg/240125195100IRG168.pdf

Cover image: Flower of S. stolonifera ‘Bian Huan’ – photo Dr Daike Tian.



N. B.  IRG from now on is  only published on SRGC.net.  ALL issues are available there: https://www.srgc.net/international_rock_gardener.asp

 (There is still an Archive from 2010 to 2023 on srgc.org.uk)

[Maggi Young]

Note of error in IRG 168 : N.B.  Please note that line four of page 6 should read :1 picogram = 10^-12 g).

[Maggi Young]

International Rock Gardener 169, download issue here:
 https://www.srgc.net/documents/irg/240222131842IRG169.pdf

February 2024
Virtual visits to differing locations in Kyrgyzstan are featured this month.
Nazgul Kenzhebaeva and Frazer Henderson have a particular interest in the
flora of the Tien Shan and take us on a trip to the Sary Chalek reserve, while
Frazer also writes about several areas in the country where he has botanised
as an enthusiastic amateur, particularly in search of tulips.


Tulipa heterophylla, photo by Frazer Henderson.

[Maggi Young]

Virtual visits to widely differing locations in the world this month in IRG.
From the United States of America, Robert Barnard treats us to a visit to one of his favourite places in California while Frazer Henderson introduces us to the Isle of Eigg - a small Scottish island where few Scots have visited.

Click here to download and read free:  https://www.srgc.net/documents/irg/240328162404IRG170.pdf

Cover image: A view of the Rocky Basin by Robert Barnard.

[Maggi Young]

April IRG 171:  Featuring orchids of the “Low Countries”   by Gerrit Eijkelenboom and two plant portraits from Zdeněk Řeháček.


Cover photo: Liparis loeselii. By Gerrit Eijkelenboom.

Click here to download the issue - free- :
https://www.srgc.net/documents/irg/240425131536IRG171April%202024.pdf

[Maggi Young]

A reminder that the main page from which to access every issue of International Rock Gardener is now
 https://www.srgc.net/international_rock_gardener.asp

From December 2023, the IRG is  no longer being posted on srgc.org.uk, instead all issues are available from this page on srgc.net  -  https://www.srgc.net/international_rock_gardener.asp    Please update any "bookmarks" you may have.   Thank you! 

[Maggi Young]

IRG 172 May 2024  - download via this link:       
https://www.srgc.net/documents/irg/240530145259IRG%20172.pdf

 A new crocus species growing wild in Kurdistan Province, Iran, is described and illustrated with photographs and distribution maps provided by Mahfouz Advay from Iran and Jānis Rukšāns, Dr. biol. h.c. from Latvia. As is stated in the article, “new discoveries continue to add to our knowledge of the crocus diversity.”
From the magazine of the Klub skalničkářů Praha, “Skalničky” there is  a plant portrait from  Zdeněk Řeháček in North-East Chechia.



Cover image: Crocus avromanicus by  Jānis Rukšāns